How California plays the Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)

1. First, there are a lot of things that are just not subject to CEQA.
2. Second, regulation and case law has taken out a lot of things.
3. Third, if no one objects, and takes the dispute to court — which
takes a lot of money — then the moving agency can get away with just about anything.
4. Even if there is a huge negative impact, if the moving agency has
properly described everything in the EIR and checked off all the right boxes, it is OK — all the moving agency has to do is a finding of
overriding considerations (as in, in our opinion, the good will outweigh the unmitigated bad, which is almost impossible to challenge), everything is OK.
5. Then, if the moving agency has enough juice in Sacramento, it can just get the Legislature to allow the project to proceed without any CEQA review – for example, the Sacramento basketball area for the Kings, which has become pretty common and keeps being expanded.

Remember, it is almost impossible to stop a project using CEQA.  Generally, the worst that can happen is that the project gets delayed while the EIR is revised — so, a very common situation is that someone who wants something files a claim in order to get some kind of settlement or agreement.  When there is a “victory” for the opponents, it is most commonly because the proponents were embarrassed to admit how bad the project was, so they made
the EIR look too much like a promotional brochure.  Bad mistake — if you actually say what will go on, then the opponents don’t have any legal leverage at all.

Tom Rubin

Quite a few cases are lost by marketing campaigns, some true and some false. Messages to investors are not for public consumption.